How to get the Soul of the Last Giant and Soldier Key in part four of Prima’s Dark Souls 2 complete walkthrough.

The fight against the Last Giant is as simple as you make it. It follows a very basic pattern, and you have plenty of room to run around avoiding its attacks, but if you get impatient, this fight will be over quickly. As with any battle in Dark Souls II, it doesn't take many hits for your character to die, so caution is the name of the game against the Last Giant.

The boss uses six main attacks throughout the first phase of the battle. From a distance, it falls forward, inflicting massive damage if you happen to be anywhere near it. If you approach the front of the Last Giant, it sweeps its hand horizontally across the ground. If you approach from behind, it jumps back, damaging you if you're near its feet when it lands. At close range, if you're in front of the Last Giant, it tries to crush you with its fist. If you're directly under it or slightly behind it, the Giant attempts to crush you with whichever foot you're closest to, or uses three consecutive stomps.

When the Last Giant falls forward, it's difficult to evade the attack. If it uses multiple stomps, it's also difficult to evade if you're not already making you’re moving away from the boss. If you get trapped on either side of the area or in a corner, you're in trouble. Knowing all of this, patience is the key to victory.

Quickly run toward the Last Giant. You need to move fast enough to make sure it doesn't fall forward. You want it to use the horizontal sweeping attack with his hand. If you're moderately close to the front of the Giant, this is exactly what it will try to attack with. Run between its legs to get behind the Giant, then attack its ankles with one or two attacks depending on your weapon and speed of attack. You may be able to pull off three or more attacks, but you want to be done attacking and back on the move before the Giant starts one of its stomping attacks.

Attack its ankles one, two or three times, then dodge or run away to get a little bit of distance between you and the Last Giant. Once it completes the stomp attack, run back into the range of its horizontal sweep so that it attempts to hit you with it again. Run between its legs again and repeat the same strategy until the Giant reaches roughly 50 percent health. If you get greedy or impatient and attack too many times, you risk getting hit by one of the Giant’s attacks.

At around 50 percent health, the Giant rips off one of its arms and continues with the same attack patterns. The main difference is that it now has more range due to the size of the arm it's now attacking with. Follow the same strategy as before, but move in a little earlier to ensure you have plenty of time to dodge the horizontal attack. Don't venture too far away from the Giant because all of its arm attacks now have deceptive range.

Continue attacking one, two or three times as you bait the Giant into using its horizontal sweeping attacks until you defeat it.

Defeating the Last Giant provides a large amount of souls, but don't head back to the bonfire and travel to Majula to level up your character just yet. Instead, head back to the bonfire and go up the stairs near the entrance. With the Soldier Key obtained from beating the Last Giant, you can now open the door at the end of the hall.

Destroy the wooden cart on the other side of the room to find a Hand Axe and Radiant Lifegem. Open the coffer near the center of the room to obtain a Small Leather Shield and Repair Powder. Head through the door and open the coffer in the next room to find an Estus Flask Shard and a Small White Sign Soapstone.

Drop down onto the tree branch below and pick up the item to obtain a Divine Blessing, then drop down to the room below. Head outside through the hole in the wall, then to the left and down the ladder. Continue down the path and speak with the man at the end to obtain a White Sign Soapstone.

Go back to the merchant by the bonfire and purchase Lenigrast's Key (1,000) and Pharros' Lockstone (4,000). The key is used to unlock the hut in Majula and activate the Blacksmith, while the Lockstone is used at the face-shaped mechanism near the room with the crossbows.

Climb down the ladder again, then head across the small staircase and to the right. The Soldier Key opens the door ahead. Up the stairs to the left is a door that requires you to produce the symbol of the king. Remember this location for later. For now, head all the way down the corridor to the coffer at the end. Open the coffer to obtain a Ring of Restoration and three more Torches.

Now head back to the bonfire and continue through the opening in the wall. Head left, then down the ladder and into the room with the crossbows. Climb down the ladder behind the crossbows and examine the face in the corner of the room to use the Pharros' Lockstone. This creates an image of the face to the left.

Strike the image to reveal a room behind it. Open the two coffers in the room to obtain another Titanite Slab and a Chloranthy Ring. With these two items, you have done all you can in this area for the time being.